Being a dungeon

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After their bond, Doc and Claire both fell sleep; with Claire sleeping with he back on Doc's crystal body. Their sleep was peaceful, uneventful, and very revitalizing to the both of them. They woke up at the same time and sent each other happy thoughts as they beheld each other.

"Good morning Doc." Claire said happily.

"Good morning Claire." He responded, "Did you sleep well?"

She nodded and began flying around in front of him. "Mommy always told me the best sleep would com after a binding, but I never imagined I would feel so good after." She giggled and did a little jig in front of his body, "I feel so rested and full of energy!"

Doc smiled at her, "I feel the same way. Now, what do we do now?"

Claire landed on the little extension and created a chair and table in front of Doc's body. She sat down and smiled at him cutely. "Why, now it's Q and A time my silly Doc. Feel free to ask me anything and everything your crystal wants to know." She giggled again, "This is so exciting!"

Doc chuckled to himself. His new friend sure was an adorable little thing. "Okay then, explain to me this bond thing."

Claire nodded, "Sure, I'll do my best." She folded her hands in front of her on the table, but could not pull off the professional look she was going for. "The bond between a dungeon heart and a dungeon pixie is very unique in this world. We connect spiritually so that we always know where the other is located and can talk to each other from any location. Beyond that, we can't harm each other and I have some control over your dungeon."

Sensing my emotions, she quickly corrected herself, "I don't mean anything big in your dungeon. I just have enough influence to create a home for myself and other things, like this table and chair." She pointed down at the objects made of purple stone, "I also help you absorb more mana from the environment just by being connected with you because I'm a magic being. You should be able to absorb mana passively now whenever you feel like it."

Checking, Doc confirmed he could adjust the pull of mana now without becoming tired. "I see that. Why couldn't I do that before?"

"Silly, it's because you are not a magic creature. You are a crystal with a soul, a more special type of a soul gem. The crystal form naturally and can use mana, but is not made of mana. Most young dungeons try to eat more as soon as they wake up, which sends a signal to the nearest dungeon pixie home to a chosen pixie. That's why I was upset when I came here; I though you didn't need me and I would be alone forever."

"Explain. Is the dungeon connection specially unique?"

Claire nodded, "Yup. A dungeon pixie gets one chance to bind with a dungeon. If one fails, than they have to live the rest of their lives alone. Not that we can live long without a dungeon." She frowned and let some tears fall form her eyes. "Mommy told me Daddy got a late ping in his life, but adventurer's had already found his partner and killed him. I never met him."

While feeling sympathetic, Doc sensed danger in her words. "A dungeon can be killed? Is that a problem right now?"

Claire looked up and shook her head. "Not right now. Daddy's crystal was too close to another established dungeon and was found after it was conquered. We are deep underground right now so no one can steal your crystal."

Doc regarded himself again curiously, "So I'm valuable to adventurers? What are adventurer's anyway?"

Claire giggled, forgetting her sadness, "Yup, even a small crystal like you is important because you can absorb mana. The bigger you get, the stronger your dungeon. To answer your other question, there are big people in the world that work and live together. Humans, dwarves, elves, demons, gnomes, and other races live and compete against each other. Adventurers can be any race, and they do things for others, like dungeon diving."

"So I can be expected to die?"

Claire shook her head, "As long as you don't dumb things like killing everything, most adventurers should just come in and take some treasure or monster parts from you and leave you alone. Long term, dungeons are a great way to make profit as long as they exist, so don't expect too much danger once a lot of people know about you."

Doc nodded, "Okay then, so how do I become a well known dungeon."

Claire smiled sat on the table with her legs crossed and her hands on her knee. Doc couldn't help but notice her growing femininity now that she was named. It didn't help she was dressed in a purple dress with a petal like skirt. "That's the fun part Doc, now we get to decide what you'll be."

Claire waved her finger again, and the blue mana formed another blue screen in front of Doc's face.

Choose your desired starting race

Goblin

Common staring monster. Goblins are monsters that hold the closet connection to sentient races. Breed quickly and posses average intelligence. Evolution path varied and defined

Kobold

Common starting monster. Kobolds are the lowest monster race with draconian blood, and are thus found mainly near the homes of great wyrms. Breed averagely and posses higher than average intelligence. Evolution path is set and undefined

Orc

Orcs have a long history and have split into two species. Dungeon orcs are different from their more sentient cousins, who live in semi-peace with the other sentient races. Breed quickly and posses low intelligence with a high tendency for violence. Evolution path is short and defined, being much stronger than the other starting monster races initially

Imp

Common starting monster. Imps are the lowest form of demons are found near underworld portals and/or lava. Breed averagely and possess great cunning, but little physical prowess. Evolution path is varied and defined.

Animal

An animal dungeon starts with a small animal from a list of choices. Easily affected by mana, animal dungeons show the greatest variety and possess the largest ecosystem of any other dungeon. Breed speed is variable and evolution path is undefined.

Slime

Rare starting monster. While most dungeon posses slime in some form, slimes are never used as a starting monster race due to their lack of intelligence and slow speed. Breed speed is slow. Evolution path is varied and undefined

Doc blinked at the very large blue screen of mana in front of his face. "Claire, what is this?"

She fluttered up beside the screen, "To start a good dungeon, you need monsters. Monster will both protect your core and add an incentive to not kill you by dropping loot and treasure."

Doc frowned, "Okay, but how? Do we make the treasure and monsters appear out of thin air? I don't have any treasure beside my own body, and that's not an option."

Claire nodded, "Right, but there are things we can do make treasure. Well, the loot kind anyway." She pointed at the walls of his room, "As you can see, your mana usage transforms the stone into a part of your dungeon. In essence, that wall is now a part of you."

She flew over to a section of the wall to his right, "Here is your first lesson: concentrate your mana here and focus on gold. Think of it in your mind, and focus all those thoughts here."

Doc huffed, than followed her orders. He felt his purple light leaving his body and concentrating around the area she had pointed to. As he pictured the gold in his head, he was surprised to find his light disappearing. Feeling nervous, he quickly stopped and felt the light return to his body.

Claire flew back to him and frowned, saying "Why did you stop? You didn't make much at all." She complained to him.

"What happened there? My mana was disappearing." Doc asked nervously. He didn't want to fall asleep again as he had no control of when he woke up and all the talk of death was a little nerve wracking.

Claire huffed, "As I thought, you've only used your magic to carve and destroy rather than create."

"Hey, I made this room didn't I?" Doc said defensively.

She waved her hand, "Making a room was easy for you because you dissolved all the stone you didn't want. On the other hand, you can create anything you want within your walls. Take a look at that spot and tell me what you see."

Doc sensed the area and was surprised. "Is that, gold?" The area was intermingled with tiny gold specs that glistened in the purple light. Not enough to be called a vein, it was enough to garner interest in anyone who saw it.

Claire nodded, "Yup, that's a magic completely unique to dungeons. They can create minerals and monsters within themselves by using the mana created by their bodies. That ability only works when the dungeon is alive, and is impossible to reproduce by anyone not a god. You won't be able to create every metal because each dungeon posses a unique set, but I figure gold was a good enough start. Others can create crystals, gemstones, or even common metals like iron and copper."

Doc nodded, "Okay, so I can create areas to be mined. . ."

"NOOOO!!!!"

Doc was surprised by Claire's frantic scream as she flew in front of him frantically. "Remember how I said the walls are a part of you? Well, imagine if thousands of greedy adventurers were mining your body every day and every hour searching for gold."

The purple crystal actually turned slightly white for a moment as Doc processed the information. "Okay, no mining completely then?"

Claire calmed down and took her seat, "You can have specialized areas for mining, but don't make the entire dungeon like that okay?" Feeling his agreement, she sighed in relief, "Also, since my house will be hidden in your walls, I don't want miners to find me. Dungeon pixies are a rare commodity slave traders like to hunt. Anyway, as I was saying your walls can form the metals and you can absorb them into your astral body."

"My what?"

Claire pointed over his body, "Think of it as an invisible bag only you can access. Anything touching parts of you that is not alive or touching anything alive is fair game for you absorb and distribute. For instance, if an idiot adventurer dies inside you, feel free to absorb his belongings and body. His valuables can be given to your monsters as loot and his body can be made into a skeleton or zombie."

Claire grimaced, "I won't protest too much, but I don't like zombie dungeons. They get really smelly and make the priest people mad."

"Church?"

"Not important. Any other questions for me?"

Doc nodded, "Yeah, what do you mean give loot to monsters? Also, how do I get monsters?"

"To answer both questions, monsters within a dungeon fall into two types: natural and dungeon born. Natural monster wander in from the outside and coexist with the dungeon, like me. Dungeon born monsters are not alive; they are merely projections of your mana into corporeal form that obey the same rules as regular monsters. When they die, their mana returns to you and they leave behind loot: sometimes a body part of value or sometimes you can add the loot from your astral bag. The races want real monster to move into dungeons so they don't mess with their homes, but for now we have to make our own monsters."

Doc chuckled, "You know Claire, sometimes you are the smartest in the room, and other times you are like a little child."

Claire blushed, "Dungeon pixies dream of bonding their entire lives, so we learn as much as we can to make our dungeons happy. A pixie can only have one dungeon, but a dungeon can replace the pixie at anytime." She gave him her cute, pout stare, "You promise to not replace me?"

Doc nodded, "Yes, we'll be friends forever."

She giggled and cried, "Hooray for Doc!" as she flew around the room. As she settle back down, she smiled and asked, "Okay Doc, which race do you want as your first monster?"

As for how the status screens work, it'd be a great idea if it was the pixies job to put the information on it, which seems to be the case. So it's not just generated by the world or something, and this information has a perspective that it comes from.

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